President-elect Donald Trump spoke with the president of Taiwan
by phone on Friday, in a move likely to infuriate Beijing and
hinder US-China relations. “President-elect Trump spoke with President Tsai Ing-wen of
Taiwan, who offered her congratulations,” according to a readout
of the call released by Trump’s transition team. “During the discussion, they noted the close economic, political,
and security ties” between Taiwan and the United States, the
statement continued. “President-elect Trump also congratulated
President Tsai on becoming President of Taiwan earlier this
year.”
Trump also tweeted
about the conversation late Friday, saying “The
President of Taiwan CALLED ME today to wish me congratulations on
winning the Presidency.” The call, first reported by the
Financial Times, is the first time a US president has
directly spoken with Taiwan’s leadership in more than 30 years.
The White House was not made aware of the call until after it
occurred, an administration official told Business Insider.
The US suspended formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979
after establishing a One China position — which states that
“there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China” — in an
effort to establish diplomatic channels with Beijing.
Beijing views Taiwan as a province of China, whereas Taiwan —
which has its own democratically elected government — has a more
complicated view of the nations’ relationship.
“There is no change to our longstanding policy on cross-Strait
issues,” said Ned Price, a spokesman for the White House’s
National Security Council.
“We remain firmly committed to our ‘one China’ policy based on
the three Joint Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act. Our
fundamental interest is in peaceful and stable cross-Strait
relations,” he added.
Ing-wen, who was elected the first female president of Taiwan in
May,
told The Washington Post over the summer that she hopes
Chinese President Xi Jinping “can appreciate that Taiwan is a
democratic society in which the leader has to follow the will of
the people.”
Analysts were quick to point out that the phone call will likely
infuriate Beijing.
“Trump has phone call w Taiwan President, 1st by US Pres or
Pres-elect since 1979,” geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer,
president of Eurasia Group, tweeted on Friday. “Beijing will be
absolutely incensed.”
“Trump almost surely unaware of Taiwan-China sensitivities before
taking President’s call,” Bremmer added. “They don’t yet have
Asia expertise on team.”
Evan Medeiros, former Asia director at the White House national
security council, told the Financial Times that “the Chinese
leadership will see this as a highly provocative action, of
historic proportions.”
“Regardless if it was deliberate or accidental, this phone call
will fundamentally change China’s perceptions of Trump’s
strategic intentions for the negative,” he said. “With this kind
of move, Trump is setting a foundation of enduring mistrust and
strategic competition for US-China relations.”
Taiwan’s
President Tsai Ing-wen speaks after being decorated with the
Mariscal Francisco Lopez medal, the country’s highest honor,
during a ceremony in the Lopez Presidential Palace in
Asuncion
Thomson
Reuters
Trump has apparently been considering building a luxury hotel
chain in the northwest Taiwanese city of Taoyuan,
the Shanghaiist reported last month.
Henry Kissinger — who, as secretary of state, arranged President
Richard Nixon’s initial trip to Beijing to establish ties in 1972
— is
currently visiting Beijing. Kissinger met with Trump at Trump
Tower after the election and told reporters that Trump “has
absolutely no baggage.”
“He has no obligation to any particular group because he has
become a president on the basis of his own strategy and a program
he put before the American public that his competitors did not
present,” Kissinger said. “So that is a unique situation.”
Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary under GeorgeW.
Bush, tweeted
on Friday that he “wasn’t even allowed to refer” to the
government “of” Taiwan when serving in the Bush administration.
“I could say gvt ‘on’ Taiwan,” he noted. “China will go nuts.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut,tweeted
that while “it’s Trump’s right to shift policy, alliances,
strategy … what has happened in the last 48 hours is not a
shift. These are major pivots in foreign policy w/out any plan.
That’s how wars start. And if they aren’t pivots — just radical
temporary deviations — allies will walk if they have no clue what
we stand for. Just as bad.”
He added: “It’s probably time we get a Secretary of State nominee
on board. Preferably w experience. Like, really really soon.”
Donald Trump is
considering appointing former presidential candidate and
Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney as his Secretary of
State.
AP
Trump risked damaging the US’ relationship with India earlier
this week after telling Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif in
a phone call that he would “love” to visit the country soon.
“It sends a powerful message to the people of a country when the
president of the United States goes to visit,” White House press
secretary Josh Earnest said when asked about the call with
Sharif. “That’s true whether it’s some of our closest allies, or
that’s also true if it’s a country like Pakistan, with whom our
relationship is somewhat more complicated.”
Trump’s communications director, Jason Miller, told reporters
Friday before reports of the phone call between Trump and
Ying-wen emerged that Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence
are “briefed in advanced of their calls” with foreign leaders. He
did not comment on whether the State Department has had any
involvement in briefing Trump and Pence, however.
Brett LoGiurato contributed reporting.
